In a known manner, a bucket forms a form of tray with an access opening which is generally rectangular in shape. The edges defining the opening generally form a cutting blade, an upper blade and two lateral wings. The edges in question, and, in particular, the cutting blade, generally need to be protected by wear parts that are removably mounted to cover the edges in question. These known wear parts form for example bucket teeth, or shields. To facilitate and guide the attachment of these wear parts to the bucket, the bucket is generally equipped with adapter brackets that are welded or screwed to the bucket, wherein the wear parts are designed to be mounted on the adapter brackets.
WO 2005/098149 proposes a wear assembly for an excavation bucket. In this case, the wear part is designed to be slipped on an adapter bracket that is integral with the bucket. The wear part has an opening, which, when the wear part is assembled on the adapter bracket, opens onto a hollow form of the adapter bracket. The assembly also includes a fastening means formed by a body received in the opening of the wear part, enabling it to be housed in the opening of the adapter bracket and thus to secure the wear part to the adapter bracket.
In order to maintain the fastening means in the opening of the wear part, the fastening means in question are provided with a threaded hole which may receive a threaded rod. The end of the latter may be brought into close contact with a receiving surface of the opening of the wear part by screwing. Thus, the fastening means is fixed in the opening by jamming them through the tightening pressure of the screw.
Nevertheless, this type of assembly has certain limits. In the first place, the reliability of the jamming of the fastening means depends on the clamping force applied to the threaded rod, so that insufficient force may call into question the reliability of the assembly. Secondly, the rotation of the threaded rod requires several turns in order to perform a satisfactory tightening, which may constitute a substantial loss of time for the operator, especially in the case where many wear parts must be attached to the bucket. In addition, under the effect of vibration and abrasion caused by the materials carried in the bucket, there is a risk of loosening of the threaded rod and thus accidental disassembly of the fastening means, which is likely to cause detachment of the wear part concerned. Conversely, it may sometimes be difficult for an operator to disassemble a worn wear part, in the case where the threaded rod is particularly tight or jammed by materials accumulated during use of the bucket.